EatPood

Who's still in?

Hey, CrossFitting Whole 30 people!  How are you doing?  Who’s still in?  If you've made it through this first week, trust me - you're doing great! 

I'm happy to meet with anyone.  If you'd like that, we can meet at the box on Sunday, 2/26 at 1.  Post a comment so I know if there's any interest.  Also, you can always post comments with questions or just catch me during the week. 

I had a special request for veggies.  I’ve got a recipe below, but before we get to that, I want to boss you a bit.  Order Well Fed!  You can get it here or there.  Just get it somewhere!!!

I told you before – it’s great!  One fun part is the cooking wod. 

That’s right.  You read that correctly.  The book has a cooking wod!  Does that appeal to you, my Type A friends? 

The author, Melissa Joulwan, programmed a 60-minute wod for you to do on a Sunday in preparation for a week of eats. 

She’s your Paleo coach.  She's got you steaming, sautéing and roasting veggies.  She orders you to brown and stew meat.  She instructs you to hard boil eggs.  If you work this cooking wod into your weekly routine, you’ll find yourself prepared to face the week ahead. 

Well Fed also has tips for stocking your Paleo pantry, and almost every recipe in the book is Whole30 complaint – and delicious!  What are you waiting for?  Get thee on the internets!!!

Okay, so I’ve plugged Well Fed.  Now I’ll give some love to Nom Nom Paleo.  I gobbled up this puree.  We had it at dinner one night, and I ate all the leftovers myself, over the course of the week, as part of my post-workout meals.   

Carrot and Parsnip Puree

2/3 lb parsnips, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 pound carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped (slightly smaller than the parsnips)

2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/2 onion, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup organic chicken stock

1/2 cup water

4 tablespoons ghee

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Melt 3T of the ghee in a pressure cooker or a Dutch oven, and then add the veggies, broth, and water.

If you are using a pressure cooker, put on the lid; lock it; and bring to pressure at the high pressure setting.  Once the pressure indicator goes up, reduce the heat to low.  Cook at pressure for 12 min.  Then run the cooker under cold water until the indicator drops. 

If you are cooking on the stove top, bring the liquid to a boil.  Then, put the lid on the pot and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for 20-25 minutes. 

When the vegetables are tender, puree them in the pot with an immersion blender.  Then stir in the remaining tablespoon of ghee and season with salt and pepper. 

I didn’t take any pictures of this.  Sorry!  I guess I was too busy eating it to photograph it.  Visit Nom Nom Paleo and check it out! The photography there is better anyway.  :0)

Here's to the freakin' weekend...

I won't be drinking to the weekend, unless it's Perrier or coconut water.  I don't mind because I'm feeling so very fly, if you will. 

In fact, I'm on day 31, friends.  I'll be continuing on in Solidarność with you.  I'm your own personal Paleo Lech Walesa over here. 

Except I don't have a mustache - so maybe it's more like this...

Don't be afraid! 

You still get to eat.  Better yet, your food will taste really great!  Wondering what a Whole30-er eats?  Well, read on for an example.  This is what I ate yesterday.  It was a rest day so I had three full meals.  If I'm working out, I have something before and something after the workout.

Breakfast: 3 egg cupcakes, 1/2 avocado,  lots of bell pepper slices

Lunch:  Left over beef stew, carrot/parsnip puree, 1/2 avocado, raw broccoli dipped in homemade ranch dressing

Dinner:  braised pork shoulder over carrots and onions, guacamole and a vinaigrette based cole slaw

Snack:  toasted coconut flakes with cinnamon and sea salt.  

I've got big plans for the weekend...

Hope to see many of you on Sunday! 

3, 2, 1 go!

Monday, February 20 is the day.  Are you in?  If so, read the information on the links below.  I will be at the box on Sunday, February 19 from 1:00 to 2:00 to answer any other questions you have.

I've gathered some links with Whole30 information.  Basically, everything you need to know is on this page:  The Whole30, version 5.12.  This page has a comment section monitored by Whole9 Envoys.  These are people who have completed several Whole30s.  They answer every question thoroughly and thoughtfully, promptly and for free.  You can choose to receive an email message whenever new comments are posted.  Also, there's a Whole30 Facebook community.

Click here to see Whole30 approved snacks.  I've never purchased any of these items, but go for it!

Plus, CrossFit WV is already a Whole9 Nutrition Partner.  There are copies of the Whole9 Nutrition Guide created for our gym available in the office.  The Guide will be helpful to you at the outset.  There is a MealSimple Template in the Appendices of the Guide.  Use it to determine what to eat pre- and post-workout and how to compose your meals in terms of the amounts and types protein, fats and vegetables. 

If you want more guidance, you can purchase The Whole30 Success Guide.  It's an eBook available for $39.  I haven't seen this, but the webpage indicates it contains a Shopping Guide and a MealSimple Template.  I recommend you check out the Nutrition Guide created for CrossFit WV first and then decide whether you need more help. 

I'll be here every step of your way to answer questions to the best of my ability.  I'll bet Kristi will help too.  She's completed several Whole30s, and she's already stepped up to join newcomers in another.  Check back here as well. I will put together a list of Eatpood posts that are Whole30 compliant and only post Whole30 compliant recipes from February 20 through March 21.

For now, check out the Nom Nom Paleo website and pick up the Well Fed cookbook for delicious Whole30 dishes. 

Let's do it!

Surviving Ski Food

We went skiing on Sunday.  At Winterplace.  Winterplace is not known for its cuisine.  The food there is terrible.  Cliff assured me that I could make it without packing an entire cooler of food.  After all, we planned to ski a half day.  So here’s how I survived...

On Saturday, I worked out with Kaitlyn, and she and Caroline were talking about Scotch eggs.   Intrigued, I went home, defrosted some breakfast sausage, hard-boiled some eggs and got to work.  I ended up with this:

Then, I made a batch of Egg Cupcakes from Everyday Paleo. 

The cupcakes were tasty, but I have issues with the clean up part of the recipe.  I won’t bore you with the details, but heed my warning.  If you make Everyday Paleo Egg Cupcakes use paper baking cups!!! You will be sorry if you don’t!!!

Back to my story…

We got up bright and early on Sunday morning.  To fuel up, I ate one Scotch egg (protein), a lot of raw bell pepper strips (carbs), and some olives (fat).  Here’s what my plate looked like:

For an inter-workout snack (I consider skiing in the freezing cold a workout), I put 2 egg cupcakes and a baggie of coconut flakes into my little backpack.  Then we drove to Winterplace and skiied.

Around 10:30 I ate the cupcakes and some of the coconut as a snack, and guess what - I didn’t have to eat any food from Winterplace!  We finished our frigid ski adventure at 1:00 pm, and on the way home, we enjoyed a paleo-friendly lunch at Tamarack. 

Here's the Scotch Eggs recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl, by Melissa Joulwan.  It’s also in her new cookbook – Well Fed.  I highly recommend this cookbook.  Melissa is a Whole 9 Envoy, and I love her stuff! 

Scotch Eggs

1 lb. good quality pork breakfast sausage or Italian sausage
5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled

Preheat oven to 375F.

Divide the sausage into 5 equal servings. Flatten the pork into an even pancake shape, and wrap around a hard-boiled egg, sealing it all the way around and making sure the meat is evenly distributed. Just keep working with it. 

Place the wrapped eggs on a baking sheet and bake about 20-25 minutes, or until the outsides are nicely browned and starting to crisp.

Eat!